Creating Wicked Students: Designing Courses for a Complex World

by Paul Hanstedt

In Creating Wicked Students , Paul Hanstedt argues that courses can and should be designed to present students with what are known as “wicked problems” because the skills of dealing with such knotty problems are what will best prepare them for life after college. As the author puts it, “this book begins with the assumption that what we all want for our students is that they be capable of changing the world….When a student leaves college, we want them to enter the world not as drones participating mindlessly in activities to which they’ve been appointed, but as thinking, deliberative beings who add something to society.”

There’s a lot of talk in education these days about “wicked problems”―problems that defy traditional expectations or knowledge, problems that evolve over Zika, ISIS, political discourse in the era of social media. To prepare students for such wicked problems, they need to have wicked competencies, the ability to respond easily and on the fly to complex challenges. Unfortunately, a traditional education that focuses on content and skills often fails to achieve this sense of wickedness. Students memorize for the test, prepare for the paper, practice the various algorithms over and over again―but when the parameters or dynamics of the test or the paper or the equation change, students are often at a loss for how to adjust.

This is a course design book centered on the idea that the goal in the college classroom―in all classrooms, all the time―is to develop students who are not just loaded with content, but capable of using that content in thoughtful, deliberate ways to make the world a better place. Achieving this goal requires a top-to-bottom reconsideration of courses, including student learning goals, text selection and course structure, day-to-day pedagogies, and assignment and project design. Creating Wicked Students takes readers through each step of the process, providing multiple examples at each stage, while always encouraging instructors to consider concepts and exercises in light of their own courses and students.

Genres: Education, Teaching, Nonfiction

200 pages, Unknown Binding

Published May 30, 2018

Reviews

[Eric Vanden Eykel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic book that every college professor should have at their elbow. In it, Hanstedt utterly destroys the notion that the college classroom is a place where content is delivered and then regurgitated. Rather, he argues that we are preparing our students for a complicated world that will require them to be creative and engaged members of society. And we want them to enter the world with an authority to make judgments and foster change. It’s a vision for higher ed with which many of us have come up through the ranks; this book articulates it with an incredible clarity. Aside from a number of practical ideas for assignments and in-class activities, Hanstedt walks the reader step by step through the creation/revision of a course that will form “wicked students.” When I got to the end, I put it back in my to-read pile for the summer - one time through will not be sufficient.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book and think he had many useful things to say about course design and assignments. I got some ideas from the book.
It took me awhile, a few chapters, to warm to the book, even though I appreciated what he was saying. The book starts with setting course goals, which is not exactly inspiring. I found the assignments and class activities more inspiring, in terms of having a direct effect on my teaching right now.
That said, I will go back to his ideas and his prompts for course design as I think about how to teach a literature course next semester.

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an incredibly practical, useful book about teaching that can be used in so many ways. As I’m redesigning my courses for summer and fall, I’ll be drawing quite a bit from the ideas here.

[Ron Christiansen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciate the somewhat daring metaphor of wicked problems and students Hanstedt borrows from Edmon Ko a prominent voice in general education. Indeed we need to give students wicked problems where according to Ko the "parameters of the problem and the means available for solving them [are] constantly changing" which lead to "wicked competencies." If only most administrators understudent this idea we could leave behind the detritus of education as efficient and linear.

As Hansteadt repeats we must (over and over and over) allow students space where they can assume authority over there learning. This needs to happen across the college but I doubt it will in many cases because many disciplines continue to construct and focus on subject-matter knowledge instead of students' ability to solve problems and think through the lens of a particular discipline. This book could help if more than writing and literature faculty read it. Not sure many will.

Given this focus a fair portion of the book was repetitive for me, old hat. In composition we know about wicked learning just under other names: critical thinking, reflective writing, recursive learning, shitty first draft etc. Still a good reminder of key concepts and the struggles with application. For example how the overuse of research papers often do not get at this higher order thinking we want from students and instead bury their own thinking amongst a won of weighty research..

[Krista]

"Creating Wicked Students" is a map to rethinking one's courses to build student readiness for today's world. Students need to be prepared for the real world's "wicked problems"--thorny, multi-layered problems that require more than basic memorization. The way to do so is to build assignments and course structure to emphasize a student's sense of authority (responsibility for their assignment), investment, and original though. The book offers many suggestions for activities as well as exam formats, and throughout, encourages readers to think, and think again, about why we do what we do in the classroom.

[LeeRay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent guide to reimagining our teaching, our courses, our assignments, and even assessment. Hanstedt offers a step by step guide through the process and numerous examples to get your creative juices flowing. A great book for teachers/faculty whether you are new to the craft or have been teaching for 20+ years.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

For me, if I were a less experienced teacher, this might be a 5 star, but the ideas are sound, well-articulated, and accessible.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciate the practicality of the information presented and the pushing for clarity over vagueness.

[Jenna Harte · Rating 5 out of 5]

No book has transformed my pedagogy as much as this one.

[Annette Dietz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some really great ideas for how to organize a course and assess student work. I hope to re-read when I can truly rework one of my classes following the prompts.